Saturday, November 6, 2010

Bringing my garden tub inside, below, the rust (it's real) looked so good I decided to keep it.Wine Bottle Girl loved her old radiators so much she hired an artist, below, to faux paint them RUST.Enchantingly, historically, beautiful &, poof, days later I RESCUED a radiator. Odd how the universe works, yes?

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In my conservatory it will become the base to a console table with a marble top, also rescued.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Rescuing my radiator was a bit tricky. Seen in the weedy woods while I was riding on acreage, in a golf cart, driven by a man, there was an awkward snag, his-land-his-stuff. "Oh, I want that !!!!!!!!!!!", and he paused a bit too long. Poppets, Ya Gotta Go In For The KILL. There was no time for me to gather the booty. You know what evolved, Golf Cart Man will bring the radiator to my conservatory.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Cloches are back at TJMaxx. Get there quick.Above, $20 each. Made in China, the glass is thin. Polish cloches are much thicker. Mexican cloches are the thickest I've discovered.I do not own a French antique cloche. I own 25-30 cloches, myriad sizes & makers.With cats it's not easy having floral arrangements in the house. Into the terrarium, above, they go.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Cloches are used to protect tender seedlings from frost. TJMaxx is next to my post office, they did not pay me for this post.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Garden Design Rule: Talk about what you want to do in your garden with friends. You'll be surprised how much FREE stuff you'll get..Plants, stone, furniture, wood, windows, iron, leftover paint, light fixtures, & etc..... What?.Shipman said, "Take the windows I have", after I described the conservatory I want to build. .Harbor an attitude of FREE. It works..Garden & Be Well, XO Tara.Shipman & I heard Fergus Garrett of Great Dixter at Atlanta Botanical Garden recently. Afterward we shared a bottle of champagne & selection of appetizers & deserts at www.EmpireStateSouth.com. Newly opened in downtown Atlanta, it's a Hugh Acheson restaurant. His other, 5&10, in Athens, GA is the top rated in the state. .Fergus, ABG, Champagne, Shipman, & FREE WINDOWS........a Cinderella evening for this garden girl..Don't know Fergus Garrett or Great Dixter...........Christo????? Ok poppets, I'll fill you in tomorrow!.Shipman rescued the circa 1940 windows, above, months ago from a huge dumpster as a nearby home was renovated. If I don't use all of them they will go to Susanne Hudson's barn......

A delicious man helped place my order, arriving Dec. 4th. Gosh he was rollicking good. I think I asked him to deliver my plants himself. He wasn't sure they would let him. Honestly, I begged him to be the one unloading my plants with me.

It's been almost a decade since I've done a large tweek in my garden. At my baywindow I'm creating a gravel terrace. 2 Adirondack chairs from the Smith/Hawken going-out-of-business sale were bought for this new garden room. Another gravel terrace is being added in my side garden under the crape myrtles. A chandelier is waiting in my garage to be hung from the crape myrtles over this new seating area. Teak seating was bought from TJMAXX.

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My garden is tiny & full of rooms. Soon I should win an award for most garden rooms/square foot!!!

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Gravel for the terraces will be ordered tomorrow. Laying in bed I connive where it should be dumped. There's no where. At the bottom of my short drive seems best. Don't want the dump truck breaking it. Guess who shovels? Me. Hired my contractor, Dan Riddle, to plant the big stuff. Can only afford him, and workers, for a full day.

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Why tell you all this? So you can be your own contractor too.

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AND, my interior was SUSANNED Tuesday. When Susanne Hudson left (10am-7pm) I was excited and dizzy. Since Tuesday I've been taking my notebook with color chips/notes around the house & to bed, it's beside my computer now as I type glancing at the colors..

SUZANNE MEASURED. Things I knew couldn't be done, were done, because she measured. Antiques from my garage will be going inside, finally. She also named rooms. The Parlor, Music Room, Garden Room, OMG, what fun.

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Top pic is of HighGrove, Prince Charles's estate in England. And the bottom pic was a joy to come across. I've been in that garden. Don't remember where. Must peruse my pics & find my shot of the same spot. I think the pics came via Golden Age Gardens .

My horticulture degree never brought up the topic of LANDSCAPE LARDER. Nor symposium or Extension Service.

Scotland was my first garden study tour. Each garden had a LANDSCAPE LARDER.

Need a 10' soaker hose? Buy 2. Need the tiny 1" sprinkler? Buy 2.

Most gardens need 2 secondary LANDSCAPE LARDERS. Keep a collection of tools near the front of your property & another at the rear.

With 20 minutes to garden in the backyard will you traipse to the garage, at the front of your home, for clippers & trug? Keep a basket of useful things at your backdoor: pruners, scissors, twine, clogs, weed popper, trowel, gloves, flashlight, spider stick, & etc. And at your frontdoor.